Paris Threatens To Sue Fox For 'No Go Zones' Defamation

Fox'snumerousapologies for falsely saying there are Muslim "no go zones" in Paris are not enough to satisfy the mayor of Paris. And they may not be enough to keep Fox from having to open its very deep pockets.

The mayor of Paris on Tuesday said she intended to sue Rupert Murdoch's Fox News over insults she said the U.S. cable television network hurled at the French capital following this month's massacre at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper.

In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Mayor Anne Hidalgo said Paris planned legal action because the city's honor was "prejudiced" by Fox reports that wrongly suggested areas of the city were "no-go zones" that were closed to non-Muslims.

"The image of Paris has been prejudiced and the honor of Paris has been prejudiced," Hidalgo said.

According to a Reuters, Hidalgo faces "an uphill climb." Although France has stricter "insult" laws that might be more accommodating to a suit than the U.S., it would likely be impossible to enforce any judgment here under American law.

However, despite similar legal conclusions at CNN, one legal analyst advised Fox to settle. From Raw Story:

Legal analyst Danny Cevallos advised Fox News to settle with Paris and put the lawsuit behind them as quickly as possible.

“If you want to defend a defamation lawsuit, it’s pricey, it’s costly, a lot of times you want those things to go away,” Cevallos said. “People may be surprised to learn that the French, in fact, do not take such a liberal view of the First Amendment as do we. Of course, they don’t have a First Amendment, but they have laws criminalizing defamation. Whereas here in the United States, defamation is merely a civil action.”